Say "Hi" to my newest diesel - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

diesel don · #1 01-17-2003, 05:47 PM

Just got back from a road trip! 4th Ebay experience with a MB diesel. A very pleasant one at that:

1985 300DT with 204k on it. I believe that some of the issues (problems) were overstated by the PO and that it will come up to speed quickly and cost effectively. A very nice exterior.

I'm trying to attach an image but its slightly bigger than the allowed 'bytes'. Can I email this to someone to fix it?

Thanks

Don

The Warden · #2 01-17-2003, 06:03 PM

If you want, you can E-mail it to me. warden@highdesert.com

Oh, and hi car!!

unkl300d · #3 01-18-2003, 01:59 AM

Hi !

The Warden · #4 01-18-2003, 04:02 AM

I received diesel don's pics and re-sized them so they can be posted. Here's one:

The Warden · #5 01-18-2003, 04:03 AM

Two:

The Warden · #6 01-18-2003, 04:04 AM

And three:

That's one nice lookin' car! I like that color...wish my car looked that good

MS Fowler · #7 01-18-2003, 07:27 AM

Don,
Nice looking car!!
Since you are a veteran ebayer, would you be willing to share your experiences? Good and bad.
I look at the ebay auctions and wonder if they are good deals or traps.
I have made several purchases, and a few sales of small items on ebay, and they have worked out well. Buying a car lond distance, sight unseen and without a chance to inspect it first seems like a somewhat daunting prospect. please coomet on your experiences.

diesel don · #8 01-18-2003, 07:56 AM

1. Thanks Warden for fixing and posting my pics. Much appreciated.

2. Regarding my experiences on ebay I have a couple of thoughts:

a. I involve a couple of people (shared wisdom) in the search.
b. I have an in depth conversation by phone with the current owner. This gives you a pretty good feel of who you are dealing with. Do they seem honest? Do they understate or overstate problems? How flexible are they with a small downpayment and is it refundable after you see the car?
c. I ask questions like; how much oil does it use between 3k intervals? How does the tranny function? How has it been maintained (brakes, valves, fluids, etc)
d. What is the history of the vehicle? How many owners, highway miles, etc?
e. Because I live in saltville and rustville, I try to get my cars from the land where rust doesn't live. So far I've purchased one from GA, CA, TX and MD
f. I try to get to the car within 5 days of the close of auction

Having said all this, I still think we need to be careful. A good friend had a pretty rotten experience in CA a year ago. We have learned some things from that deal as well. Within our club here, we have one person (Kirk on the forum) who is really insightful in the hunt. We rely on his a bunch. And after all, the hunt is half the fun!

Don

rwthomas1 · #9 01-18-2003, 08:29 AM

Beautiful car!! Thats the sister to mine, one year off and a palomino interior. Good Buy! RT

engatwork · #10 01-18-2003, 08:30 AM

Nice looking car Don - which state did it come from. Another thought for MFowler - if you find a car you like on ebay you can probably get one of this forums members that are in that area to go take a look at it for you and provide you with an unbiased, honest feedback.

Ken300D · #11 01-18-2003, 11:36 AM

Oh yeah - I had my eye on that one and was scheduled to see it on Sunday during the time of the auction. I guess you out-negotiated me! The seller told me a "local" made an offer that he was "scared" to refuse, so he ended the EBay auction.

At a minimum, it looked like a good parts car, and I have seen the car on the road in N. VA. Like you, I think the seller overstated the problems with the car in an effort to be honest. I suppose if you drove it back to Michigan that's been proven true.

I have a carfax report for the car if you want it for your records. Just send me your E-Mail address by PM and I'll forward it to you. You probably already have the 5-MB of pictures, but I'll offer those as well if you don't already have them. As you might guess from the PSU alumni license plate, the car spent most of its life in PA.

How did it do on the trip back?

Ken300D

diesel don · #12 01-18-2003, 05:44 PM

The car was in Maryland, but as Ken said, it spent most of its life in PA. There are four minor rust bubbles.

Ken:
I chose to tow it home rather than drive it since I didn't know the extent of repair needed. It sounded like world war III when I started it because the left motor mount was completely shot. The engine was vibrating the frame something terrible. In addition, there was no PS belt.

A word to the wise. I attempted to pull it with a tow dolly with the rear end up (pulling it backwards). With the front wheels locked by the steering wheel, I'd hoped it would track ok.
It didn't. I white-knuckled it at about 40 mph until out of the D.C. area. Got a hotel and wondered if I'd ever see Michigan again.
After talking with a buddy, I decided to drop the drive shaft in the hotel parking lot. After driving the front wheels up on the tow dolly and jacking it up (fortunately I brought enough tools to rebuild the entire car), I began still another session of learning. I had never worked with the flex disc before. Took me about 3 hours because of the bushings in the flex disc (and a couple of phone calls).
After tieing up the drive shaft, I made fantastic time coming home and was able to pull it at about 75 mph (Jeep Cheeroke).

So far, I've replaced the motor mounts, reassembled the under carriage and reworked the air filter unit. Discovered from the owner that its valves hadn't been adjusted since purchasing it at 120k (ouch). Hopefully this will be part of the power issue.

All in all I'm very pleased.

Don

diesel don · #13 01-18-2003, 05:46 PM

Ken:

In my former post I forgot to mention that I paid him $2K for it. In retrospect, he may have taken less.
As I assess the repairs needed however, I don't see much money to bring it up to speed. I already had the motor mounts.

Don

Ken300D · #14 01-18-2003, 09:47 PM

Got your PM and you should see an E-Mail from me soon. For some reason the embedded graphics in the E-Mail don't do very well when I redirect the message, but you get all the information in the text-only section of the report also.

My first concern and question about the car was the motor mounts, because I was worried the support arm (either from the frame or the engine) was cracked. Much better to hear it was just the rubber block, although I had visions of the motor dropping out onto the road while driving it home.....

I think you did the right thing to tow it home. I can't imagine why someone would not replace (or have replaced) a bad motor mount!

It looked from the pictures that the dash is uncracked - and that is a rare thing - so get some treatment on it so it will be perfect for a long time into the future.

If the car was where the EBay ad stated it was located, you would have been in Virginia, out on Interstate 66 from the Capital beltway.

I was only interested in the car at the minimum bid price. In fact, I was going to let the auction expire and then make an offer somewhere below the asking price. I really don't need another car, but would have taken it for that!

Most of the sheet metal appeared to be really straight in the pictures. Hopefully the little rust issues you can catch now and stop their progress. The one on the window frame bothered me a little bit, as it might have spread from the glass seal area. Take a look under the carpets when you get a chance for moisture.

I hope you got a great car, you certainly worked for it. It deserves an owner like you.

Ken300D

mplafleur · #15 01-19-2003, 11:00 AM

Looks beautiful Don! We need to keep snatching those southern beauties and bringing them back up north.

See you tomorrow morning.